243 Comments

post corrected: the inlet is called the "Schlei," not the "Schiel." don't know how I got that mixed up, but apologies to northern German friends.

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The Danish (original) name is Slien, but it is also called Slesvig Fjord. There is another cable ferry across another strait that is 240 meters wide at Arnaes, but it says that it only operates in the summer. I guess that our green friends have not come after that one yet.

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Actually the ferry at Arnis, to use the German name, is kaput since early 2023. Bridges are also closed or being renovated across Slien., so it's no easy to cross This article form 2023

noted that a positive was the fact that Missunde II was still operating ! https://www.nordschleswiger.dk/de/suedschleswig/kaputte-bruecke-faehre-ausser-betrieb-wie-man-dennoch-trocken-schleiseiten-wechselt

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And more salt in the wounds..... it was a Dane who bought and sold back the ferry. First it was Euro 50k, but he had the right to buy it back in the fall of 2024. So the German state govt had to buy out this option for another 50k

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amazing, thank you.

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That's like buying a beat up car, banging it up some more and selling it back to the owner for a higher price. That would be hilarious except for the fact that we all know who is actually going to foot the bill.

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Well, I sold a 2016 model car in 2018 with 6k miles. I kept in touch with the new owner. When I moved back to the US in 2022, he had just sold it for more than what I paid new in Dec 2015. He had put 50k miles on the car. 2021-2 was an aberration, but your comment made me think of this. One factor was that the car had a manual transmission, which was discontinued in 2018. But the autos were also going for ridiculous prices used.

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Wow, that's a story. So manual transmission cars were at a premium because of being discontinued?

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Easy money to be made on arbitrage investment strategy here. Buy banned old diesel equipment like the Missunde II, then sell it back to idiot Eurocrats for 5x profit in a year when they realize their new sustainable gear doesn't work. Call it ESG - Eurocrat Shithead Government.

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A modern ferry tale with princess Miss unused III.

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You, Sir, are a genius. Thanks for making my day.

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I knew as soon as I read "he left the poor boat moored in Maasholm, near the head of the Schlei" that that was the game. I figured somewhere between 3x and 10x on the buy back price. What I didn't anticipate was that the deal would be accomplished by the end of the article!

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Nicely said Yuri, in just three lines! Public Servants SHOULD SURELY have their salaries and pensions linked to their RIDICULOUS F*CK UPS for the world to ever move forward.

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Hah!

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I'm stealing this.

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Is there a limit to the platitudes that Yuri can spew all over Substack? I sincerely hope so, but no luck so far...

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Heres the multi-million dollar question. Do you think the people in govt are in on it? Sell off the old ship to a buddy, create government largessee for people under you (thus securing your power), then when that has run its course you perform the classic hanlon dodge and say “oh well we tried, unfortunately it didn’t work despite our best intentions” then the government buys the boat back from your friend. All completely above board and can be blamed on government incompetence. Instead of you being the worlds ugliest leech.

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Here in Florida, we just learned that if you leave your EV charging in your garage when a saltwater storm surge is coming you will be able to build a new house to replace the one that burned down. Strange, there were no stories of fosse fuel cars catching fire from saltwater storm surge.

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How many miles would one have to drive to offset all the horrible chemicals released into the atmosphere by a burning EV?

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Holy moly!

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The poor Tesla sounded like it was in real distress! As though it didn’t know whether to cough or fart 🤣🤣🤣

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That's kinda funny. Apparently part of the process of installing an EV charger should also be making your garage a fireproof box so your EV doesn't burn your house down.

It's interesting though. I recently got back into RC cars after being out for about 15 years and apparently everyone charges LiPo batteries in thermal bags or ammo cans now. Thermal runaway is common enough that it's just the norm now and everyone makes sure noobs know. You can't leave the batteries charging unattended and you want to make sure they don't burn your house down when (not if) they eventually blow up.

And we want to put this chemistry in every car in the country? It's absolutely bizarre.

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My buddy is into big ass RC planes, I am going to share your info re charging containment.

Kids with e-bikes are burning down apartment complexes and other disasters.

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The bags and ammo cans aren't expensive. I'd be surprised if it wasn't common in planes too.

They were pretty new when I got out of the hobby and I'm amazed by how common the practice is in great contrast to what's being said about how safe they are in full size applications.

I would guess that as OEMs push more current and voltage to reduce charge times they're going to run into more of this. The RC guys have been using these batteries longer then anyone except maybe cell phones, but RC draws way more current using far larger batteries. You can get chargers now that'll push 100W into a 5Ah battery.

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You might enjoy this article on my Substack:

EV Infernos: Torched Trailers, Tow Trucks, and Tow Yards

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I was considering buying an electric scooter with a lithium battery. It would be stored down my basement since I don't have a garage. I think I'll reconsider unless anyone can give me an idea for containment.

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Overcurrent and over voltage and short circuit events can trigger fires in batteries without circuit protection. Off brand Chinese batteries can possibly be risky.

There are counterfeit batteries now out of China too

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Now I'm wondering about the rather expensive solar generator I just bought (for backing up the refrigerator during our frequent power outages). It has a LiFePO4 battery, and can be charged from house current or solar panels. Same potential issue?

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From what I understand the "Lithium Nano phosphate (LiFe)" chemistry is far more stable and less dangerous. They're probably better for that kind of application.

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Whew!

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Not sure if punctured though. Interested in how is it safer?

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It's fine. I have one and my company sells the same thing. Totally safe

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Even with scooters and cars, it's not like they're bursting into flame right and left. I do appreciate the reassurances about my particular type of battery.

That said, these days I'm hesitant to consider anything "totally safe" 😬

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Says the person making money from them. LOL

Just kidding Ryan.

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There was a story today about a garage fire from charging an EV with an aftermarket charger. Regarding the long-term issues, the batteries have to be replaced at some point, I understand you can get a second life out of them with storage for solar but still they have to go somewhere at some point. Lead acid was fairly easy to recycle but not sure about these. I was around for the beginning of the use of plastics, look where that has gone.

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You can't rely on recycling unless it's cost advantageous to the original manufacturer. Tesla's structural battery has to be reground. You don't see much real recycling outside of Aluminum and Copper. Maybe lithium will be similar, I don't know.

Lead acid batteries are interesting. It seems like the prevailing wisdom now is "chuck them in the ocean" which is wild.

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In fairness, this has much to do with the quality of the batteries. Exploding ebikes is a thing as well, and for similar reasons: people prefer buying cheap Chinese batteries from Amazon or Alibaba instead of spending more (usually a lot more) on a better-made battery that probably won't burn your apartment.

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Overcurrent and over voltage and short circuit events can trigger fires in batteries without circuit protection.

Off brand Chinese batteries can possibly be risky.

There are counterfeit batteries now out of China too

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I am worried about my cell phone siince it is about 6 years old and the battery is getting weak. Could it catch fire some day?

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From my experience the worst thing that happens to batteries in small electronics is they release hydrogen gas and bulge, usually from being left on a charger all the time. I don't know that cell phone batteries have the current (or even the capacity) for the worst case scenario to be common. They're relatively low power compared to anything with a motor in it.

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I bought my son a very nice 4 X 4 RC one Christmas. 20” after running Christmas morning, it caught afire and burned the body. Put it out with an extinguisher and took it back to the hobby store and they replaced it.

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I predict the only perfect protection and containment of these fires will be a new product called … asbestos!

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Thanks for that link—I just subscribed to Tuco’s Substack.

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Thank you Andy!

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Best use of EVs that I've heard of. The premiums for hurricane insurance are outrageous, if it's even available, but fire insurance premiums are reasonable and will pay as long as the fire consumes what's left of your house!

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Lifehacks that we never asked for.

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The Sheriff in Pinellas County, FL released a cloud video from a garage with saltwater up to the bottom of a Tesla and you can see it start to burn then the fire takes off. Amazing video until the camera went out. you should be able to Google it.

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We've been lucky this hasn't happened so far in the subterranean garage of a high-rise residential condo.

But, unfortunately, such a tragedy happening is just a matter of time. It will definitely serve as a stress test for building codes related to fire proofing, mitigation and escape on high rise buildings.

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It’s hard to give an article that pisses me off this much a like, but I did. I’m not all that smart but before reading any of the results of putting the new Missunde III into service, I took one look at the photo and thought, doesn’t the wind blow there? Greens have to be the stupidest people on the planet.

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They are stupid because they are focused on only one narrow part of an issue. They can't think how "a" might affect "b" and "b" might cause more significant problems called "c," and we haven't even reached the end of the alphabet yet.

These green people are foolish and brainwashed individuals who never bothered to realize that people long ago figured out how to navigate in nature. Perhaps the problem is they have never gotten off their asses long enough to push long oars or paddles in a boat or understand the principles of water propulsion.

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Same think happened with COVID. Letting the Public Health experts make all the decisions meant that nobody was looking beyond "A". "Experts should be on tap, not on top" (W. Churchill)

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They certainly don't shine in the engineer-hiring department.

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DEI.

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Well maybe. But, if they hired some shoeless Africans, it may have turned out better because the new DEI worker would have at least understood how boats work in water. 😂😂

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Me too. One look at the picture and I thought the info would mostly about how unstable it was in the wind. It's alarming how stupid our experts are.

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Excellent story! My, how I chuckled.

How much do I hate and despise these idiots who are in charge of the world at all levels but are so incredibly stupid and full of hubris.

We here in the glorious land of soon to be pre-industrial Britain are turning off our last coal-fired power station tonight. Because the idiots in charge don't seem to realise that the solar panels they are so fond of are made in China using energy from coal-fired power stations and need frigging sunlight to actually work (not alot of sunlight here even in the summer).

I despair, I really do!

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'effectively preventing the strongest party in the Landtag from exercising their blocking minority there.'

Betcha that will only increase populist fervor going forward.

Well, cross fingers anyway.

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'Thus the Office for Coastal Protection finally went limping back to the not-so-dim buyer who purchased the Missunde II for 17,000 Euros, and struck a deal to buy it back from him for 100,000 Euros.'

At least somebody came out ahead in this sorry tale. Once again the poor taxpayers are footing the bill.

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Dear Eugyppius, Germany is not a serious country any longer, reading your blog is becoming like watching a Monty Python episode (and who said the Germans have no sense of humour!). One would almost regret the forthcoming demise of the green cult, but for the sake of my German friends I do hope it won’t take much longer.

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Aaaaaaaaahh! Hahahahaha!!! Hahahahaah!!!

If it wasn't so hilarious I'd cry.

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I also was going to laugh but you were faster than was I.

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Absolutely brilliant! This epitomises the consequences of the nut zero religion currently bankrupting Europe and the UK.

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…and Canada.

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And Australia

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I'd like to be able to say this ferry tale is unbelievable, but sadly it's all too believable. (And they lived foolishly ever after...)

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I see what you did there SLY

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Here in Alaska, the state gubbamint bought a high speed ferry for 78 million dollars. Problem 1: there was no dock that could handle the vessel. Problem 2: there were no trained crews or officers anywhere in Alaska to handle the vessel. Problem 3: they had to mothball the ferry in Seattle, costing even MORE money...

Yeah, Alaska has some of the dumbest leaders going.

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Nobody from the mainland wants the job, It's basically a city spread out over millions of acres, taxpayers don't cover near the cost of government, and you just sit back and let the oil revenues flow in. It's kind of like being the emir of Kuwait.

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Nice to read a story with a happy ending for a change!

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Hahaha

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Eugyppius, you lift my spirits. I live in the State of California where it is a challenge determining whether some headline regarding some state/local government action is an April Fool's joke or reality. There is a fabulous satire site called the Babylon Bee that is nearly indiscernible from official pronouncements.

I remain convinced I live in the most insane place on the planet, but it encourages me to know that there are contenders.

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Babylon bee is suing Newsom on his recent signing of a series of laws banning satire; calling it " it undermines the public' s trust through misinformation". If kamala is installed expect this to become a federal law

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We are all in the grip of Poe's Law.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/poes-law/

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I love this story. The only thing I wish was different is he charged 1mn € and not 100k. Otherwise this is just perfect. We truly are ruled by morons.

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The CDU had to destroy democracy in the Thuringian parliament in order to save it, don't you see.

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